Brecht on Love and War

The Bauhaus Band and Singers

Presented by: Humanities Cultural Programme, TORCH

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0	OXFORD: The Sheldonian Theatre
P	Sunday 14th May, 2023
N	6:30pm

Event information

The Humanities Cultural Programme is delighted to present, Brecht on Love and War: The Bauhaus Band and Singers. This performance is the culmination of Prof. John Harle’s (renowned English saxophonist and musical director, Guildhall School of Music and Drama) year long visiting fellowship at HCP. Prof. Harle working with Prof. Tom Kuhn (Professor of 20th Century German Literature, Brecht expert and translator, University of Oxford), will present a spectacular multi-media programme of Brecht poems and songs.

In the first half, Marc Almond will sing hit songs and ballads of the 1920s and 30s, from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (‘Mack the Knife’) to Duke Ellington. He is accompanied by the Bauhaus Band and Singers of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, who also provide the music for the rest of the evening. The climax and culmination of the second half will be a complete performance of Brecht and Hanns Eisler’s multi-media cantata ‘Bilder aus der Kriegsfibel’ (‘Scenes from the War Primer’), a commentary on and critique of the Second World War. Leading into that we have a programme of readings, songs and short films (inspired by Brecht poems), with video art by students of the Ruskin School (University of Oxford), and music, both from the period, and also newly commissioned from students of composition and faculty at Oxford and the Guildhall.